London Eye: Two aims

Two aims

“I’ve been at Skipton House for a month now, and we don’t have a clue what we’re doing” – Sir David Sloman was doling out charm and levity at the annual conference of the Londonwide Local Medical Committees last week.

Another priority Sir David mentioned was healthcare estate, some of which in London “was absolutely shocking”. London Eye was reminded of when Sir Andrew Morris took over Heatherwood and Wexham Park, having run Frimley Park for decades. He told an HSJ conference audience that he hadn’t realised just how bad the infrastructure was at the neighbouring trust, at developing world levels in some aspects, and that when he’d seen that there was no choice but to act.

Sir David admitted “capital is going to be a challenge”, for London along with the rest of the NHS.

So can anything be done in the absence of public money and private investment? He mentioned “driving past empty local authority properties in areas where I know we need out-of-hospital care”, suggesting some kind of greater collaboration with the boroughs.

The theory goes that doing these via something like Skype (or maybe not doing them at all) frees up some hospital space, maybe? And then that space doesn’t need to be expensively maintained? And, in fact, could be sold? As care moves not just closer to home (y’know, the way it has been inexorably) but actually into the home via an iPad, perhaps less labour intensive outpatients appointments mean the workforce shortages are less of a problem?

That’s a lot of maybes.

Another one was an eye-catching claim about 10 per cent of London’s traffic being people on their way to or from an outpatients appointment.

This led Sir David to another point about air pollution, with the reduction in outpatient journeys being one of the ways the NHS was going to contribute to London becoming the world’s healthiest city – his stated aim.

Something he, rather than Public Health England or the Mayor’s office, can control is equitable access to care. Sir David mentioned that you don’t hear the term “postcode lottery” much these days but it still exists.

And that was his other stated aim – to make London the best place in the world to receive healthcare.

When asked by chair Ben Goldacre how success or failure on his two aims might be measured, there was no clear answer.

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